Witnesses were urged to give of their “valuable things” to offset this shortfall and make important construction projects possible. The Bible account of Israelites parting with their gold and silver for the construction of the tabernacle was invoked as a comparison.

Fast forward to the winter of 2016, and a new picture is emerging of how some of these “valuable things” have been spent. Watchtower’s new World Headquarters at Warwick is now complete a year ahead of schedule, and it is already clear that no expense has been spared on its construction. Even the drain covers, it would appear, have been customized to feature the Watchtower logo, as this picture uploaded to Instagram reveals:

In my new book, I tell of how I once wrote to Watchtower as a 20-year-old pioneer to ask about the extensive use of the Watchtower logo in literature and videos, not to mention on Kingdom Halls and Watchtower facilities. It struck me as a direct contravention of the organization’s stance on idolatry, since according to the Scriptures God’s people are not to make “any carved image having the form of any symbol.” (Deuteronomy 4:16)

A Witness youth in Venezuela busily attends to not worshipping the JW.org logo

I no longer have the letter I received in response, but it went something along the lines of “we don’t worship the Watchtower symbol, and anyway it’s ok because Solomon’s temple had pomegranate sculptures on it for artistic purposes.” (Interestingly, the same reasoning can be found in a 2004 Watchtower article.)

Of course, I didn’t buy it. Any image used in a religious context could be argued as contravening the rules on idolatry expressed in Deuteronomy, and no appeals to ornamental fruit on Solomon’s temple could change that. I was, however, somewhat relieved when, about ten years later, rules were introduced to the effect that Kingdom Halls were no longer permitted to display the Watchtower symbol. I was an elder at the time, and it seemed a step in the right direction.

Now, it seems, the organization of 2016/2017 is all about symbols, logos and motifs being used in worship. The JW.org logo is everywhere, and is even used by Witnesses when making souvenirs (including jewelry and badges) to be handed out at international conventions. A modified version of the logo adorns the backdrop to all JW Broadcasting videos, and the logo is prominently displayed on all Kingdom Halls and Bethel facilities.

The illuminated Watchtower sign shines through the haze at Warwick

Now, to cap it all off, the Watchtower logo has returned to the fore to the extent of featuring prominently on the new Headquarters building – both on the architecture and, it seems, the drain covers.

Apart from this raising questions over idolatry, one cannot help but feel astonished at the lavish spending. JWsurvey already reported some months ago about consternation among Bethelites regarding Warwick’s remote-controlled lake.

It emerged that photos of specialist contractors in breathing apparatus working on a special valve had been removed from the JW.org site because, at that time, Watchtower was in the process of terminating the assignments of bethelites and special pioneers due to a shortage of funds. The timing of these photos could not have been worse.*

When you factor in other lavish features of the new HQ, such as the above wrap-around illuminated sign – not to mention reports on the “ExJW” Sub-Reddit of a heated driveway leading to the main entrance and Hunter Douglas blinds being installed – it is clear that no expense has been spared on the new Warwick compound.

To put it simply, money that should be being set aside for compensating a multitude of abuse victims is being squandered on giving the likes of Splane, Jackson and Morris an opulent place to live and work.

At the very least – it is now painfully apparent that taking the ice cream money of JW children was more about giving the Governing Body the luxury they apparently feel they deserve, and less about urgently tending to “Kingdom interests.”

* I am aware that Watchtower has recently released an article and video showing the organization being praised for its work on “Blue Lake” because homes downstream are now safe from flooding. However, it could be argued that if “life and property” in the local community were seriously at risk this should have been a problem for the local authorities to deal with – not Watchtower. Certainly, local authorities are in a much stronger position to tend to the urgent needs of residents when they are not deprived of tax revenue due to religious exemptions. In Brooklyn, for example, Watchtower has faced criticism for not helping the community enough in light of how much money it has saved through its tax-exempt status.

There are many more examples of the sheep blindly following
even after embarrassing retractions by the “divinely appointed”
slave.

A fairly recent one is the abandoning of 123 types – anti types
said to be the credentials of the remnant and other sheep.
Some of them are quite ludicrous.

One I had trouble getting my head round was Jonah and the
mariners. Jonah represented the remnant and the mariners
pictured the great crowd, the other sheep, what didn’t sit right
was the fact that it was the Mariners who threw Jonah overboard.
I can’t remember whether the big fish had a character part.

What’s irksome is the 25 years of struggling to get to meetings
mostly after a day’s manual labour in the foundry, to spend hours
discussing what’s turned out to be just puerile nonsense.
What’s more painful for me is that one of my children is still
infected with this rubbish.

No way can we say we had j the truth when we came away
from those meetings. It’s all been washed away to a avoid more
egg on face.

If Jehovah is going lure us into his cult by promising to resurrect all our dead relatives, where is he going to draw the line on that promise?

Through DNA testing it has been proven that we, and especially Europeans, have Neanderthal blood running through our veins and Neanderthal have in turn been genetically linked to an even older species of Human called Denisovan.

The discovered shared traits can only be passed down through the mother which proves they mated and in order to mate successfully, the partners need to be extremely genetically close.

If these are our cousins, don’t they deserve to be resurrected? Are we going to have a lot of primitive looking humans wandering around our paradise and mugging passers by for bananas?

So at this stage, it looks as if Denisovan were ‘Us’ 101 for Jehovah.

It seems as if Jehovah has had the pleasure of wiping out more than one human species before and has gotten away with it and has developed a liking. Text book serial killer behaviour, only this time he’s decided to play cat and mouse and tease us with who’s gonna live and who’s gonna die.

“See these boots!…Lick ’em, boy!..Lick ’em! That’s right!, that’s right, boy! Now if you wanna keep on livin’… you just keep on doin’ that!”

The situation with your still-in JW daughter who has health challenges has me wondering:

If the ransom was paid at the time of Jesus’ death (Mark 15:45, Matthew 20:28, 1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 2:9), then why weren’t the effects of Adamic sin (sickness & death) reversed at that time?

It seems to me that either:
– The payment of the ransom was premature

OR

– God was not satisfied with the payment of the ransom; it was not sufficient to make up for Adam’s & Eve’s so-called “sin”.
Hasn’t god extracted enough from mankind as payment for Adam’s & Eve’s “sin” given the billions of persons who have lived and died?

If God truly wants to help mankind then why weren’t the effects of Adamic sin reversed at the time when the ransom was paid?

Further, if God truly wanted to help mankind then why didn’t he just start the world with the conditions that are claimed will exist in the future Paradise?:

– Free will but no inclination for sin
OR
– Free will, you can still sin but you are individually destroyed – your offspring are not penalized for your sin. No Satan or snake to tempt. No Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to tempt. No single point of failure.

The very belief in this future Paradise shows that there is a set of conditions that God could have started with but did not.

@ Dee2, Totally agree with you on the “single point of failure.” When one looks at nearly any complex systems, it’s common to build in a fail-safe so that the worse case scenarios is avoided. If imperfect humans are able to understand the importance of preventing a wholesale collapse from a single point of failure, then certainly an all-knowing, all-wise God should have considered this.

But based on JW teachings, God did not think through that one of his angels, exercising free will, might go renegade creating havoc for the rest of his intelligent creations. Certainly, given the uniqueness of free will, God must have realized that this was a real possibility. And with billions of angels in existence, the odd were against him. So of course he had to know of this potential, otherwise why propound the test of loyalty with the Tree of Knowledge.

Contrary to common sense, instead of planning for the worse-cast scenario, God set the world in motion, hoping for the best-case scenario. When that didn’t happen the all-wise Creator’s absolute best solution was to allow unimaginable suffering, corruption and bloodshed, for the majority of humankind, over the course of thousands of years. Yes, even the most innocent of children would have to suffer. And why not? His own spiritual sons would be made to endure the long-term disruptive influence of Satan in their heavenly home. And to cap of the brutality resulting from this single point of failure, God had already secretly planned to engineer the gruesome, humiliating death of his son. Even after this sacrifice, the gut-wrenching disaster that is human existence would need to grind on for another two thousand years. Then, once Christ is finally enthroned God would tack on 100+ more years of suffering (incidentally, while everyone in heaven is partying, having confined Satan to the defenseless earth. Another EXCELLENT idea).

Jehovah’s Witnesses regularly refer to God as a father. I don’t know what decent father would allow the ongoing disruption of his household because of one rebellious son. I don’t know what loving father would allow circumstances in his home to spiral so far out of control that he’d knowing allow a clearly evil son to kill his first born. Then once the deed is done, confine the killer in the baby’s room to do whatever he wishes.

All of this because God didn’t plan past a single point of failure. It’s either that or Jehovah’s Witnesses have no idea what they’re talking about.

I feel like the being we call satan may not have been truly evil. Everything backing this up is merely an opinion. I feel he just wanted them to push past the ignorance their god pushed upon them. After they ate from the tree of knowledge, they then truly had free will. They were then responsible for everything that happened in their lives. The slaveholders didn’t like that, and changed the DNA of all of the offspring so that they could no longer hear satan directly. In other religions, it’s mentioned that the connection to the source, or god disappeared amongst the people as time passed. I wonder why all religions share that. Something gradually disappears over time. The story of Satan proves that God isn’t perfect, by the way. This discredits a lot of the bible to some degree.

My brother who is a fader after 50 years said that was the first thing that started him on that road….if Jesus’s paid the ransom why is everyone still suffering…it’s so simple but so mind blowing when you have been taught this as fact your whole life…I feel for your daughter Twmack and I don’t know her so you are the one who can see her needs and if her hope is what keeps her going you are most likely doing the right thing to not challenge that..she has enough to go through…I send all good wishes to you…. but doesn’t the dishonesty of this cult shock you beyond belief sometimes.

When I was still a JW, years ago we had a brand new hall built. Some complained about the expense and it sort of looked like a small-sized Spanish mansion with another house on the property for the traveling C.O. We were told that Jehovah wants his “house” beautiful, that it’s a reflection on his organization, to have fine things, a beautiful building inside and out. It was a credit to Jehovah and his organization. So we all have to Praise Jah with this new HQ in Warwick and blindly say how wonderful it is…praise Jah that the masses of rank and file JWs are poor with no education, barely making a living wasting their lives sitting inside a building they couldn’t afford themselves, as they go home to their rented apts with costs going up and paychecks staying the same. It’s very sad and pathetic that the JWs still have myriads of blind followers and thankfully I have woken up and had help deprogramming from the cult by watching Cedars You Tube channel.

As a circuit overseer from California, I can tell you how much fun it is to freeload off the gullible friends. We get a new car, furnished apt with cable, gas card, medical insurance, stipend from the branch, personal expense account and my favorite …. green handshakes.

If I would’ve gone to Gilead and sent to a 3rd world country, I wouldn’t be enjoying this lifestyle. I can’t believe how the publishers don’t see that there is a paid clergy class living very well (CO’s) in de developed lands. Those CO’s in developing nations are screwed.

And why would any Co or his cow give up such a cushy number? Our new co wanted to have a little word with me as I have downed tools rather abrubtly much to the dismay of many in the congo. Interestingly he asked my still in husband if “my problem” was organisational or doctrinal. As if he cares Really! So long as he gets his paycheck and can report back to HQ that all is quiet on the western front and the coppers are filling the coffers. He does not give a flying f as to why I would abandon the way of life I have only known. I reckon for guilty jdubs subbing the co is a form of penance but it is so physical because God does not need us to support a baby eating bishop or any other incumbent ie the cow wife. This shameless fleecing of the flock has to stop and be exposed for what it is. Corruption and greed. By the way for the record the actual reason I came out of the garbage was .I believed all the doctrines including the UN being Satanic etc etc and when I found out “we” got in bed with that org, that was it.No way could I condone such a blatant disregard for what they preached and then practiced behind our backs. Having been a victim of abuse as a child, actually I can bury that under the rug because there are so many kids defiled by wicked people and they/we will get justice eventually. But for a duped “spiritual” person as I was and still am I will never ever forgive them for creating such a wicked religion full of lies and deceiving ME. So in conclusion I have no need to meet with the elders, co, do, or head honcho they mean jacksquat to me now and they all can go to gehenna. (if it exists). Ruthlee

The U.N. membership for ten years is what did it for me as well. That was truly ‘the straw that broke the camels back’!

To think that the scarlet colored wild beast was identified back before the “Babylon the Great” book was released in 1963 and then to join it themselves (supposedly for a library card) what does that make them? A dirty little whore, which the angel in mid-heaven says to ‘get out of’!

Well I followed my conscience and did just that; as did my immediate family (wife and son). I have never regretted my decision.

I’m interested to know if you realise how awful you sound..unless you are using some sort of Irony…you have definitely confirmed my view of CO’s … are you fading? …The pressure that the ordinary JWs are under when the CO visits is incredible…and they love their position of Authority… I hope you are happy in your use of others…you seem to be.

It’s a good point. although we do not have any evidence that “Aaron Gallegos” is actually a circuit overseer. He is likely using sarcasm to make his point. We do have contact with countless elders as well as circuit overseers who have woken up (or are in the process) , but I would not give any weight to Aaron’s comments unless we establish he is telling the truth.

hey John, thank you that statement. i too was woken up by the UN membership. As I am just asking questions, and getting in trouble doing it, i appreciate you only having verified info here. Having been lied to 57 years i wouldn’t be listening
at all if I felt more of the same here

How many quit good paying jobs because the company made weapons of war. Can’t work there. How ever unknown to the same one’s that quit good jobs the JW’s have still to this day tons of stocks in those companies. Get out of the cult.

@dee2, Hi Dee, I know that’s the kind of bull they
put out, but there’s a glaring inconsistency here.

It appears that the JW plebs will have to cower in
bunkers during the G, Tribulation. But there will
be some kind of Independence Day force field
wrapped around Warwick and its elite occupants.
protecting them from the murderous mobs.

The GB coming out and declaring themselves ‘not inspired’ and ‘not infallible’ after decades of claiming they are the mouthpiece of God and “shut the hell up you’d better believe us”, makes me wonder why they are trying to distance themselves from Jehovah, or, is it actually the other way around and they are trying to distance Jehovah from themselves.

Are they trying to protect Jehovah’s name ahead of the coming troubles. Governing Bodies can be replaced, Jehovah can’t.

If the GB go down in a screaming heap while tied to Jehovah, they take him and the org with them. If the GB claim they’re uninspired and fallible and then go down, Jehovah remains standing and the org is saved.

The GB coming out and declaring themselves ‘not inspired’ and ‘not infallible’ after decades of claiming they are the mouthpiece of God and “shut the hell up you’d better believe us”, makes me wonder why they are trying to distance themselves from Jehovah, or, is it actually the other way around and they are trying to distance Jehovah from themselves.

Are they trying to protect Jehovah’s name ahead of the coming troubles. Governing Bodies can be replaced, Jehovah can’t.

If the GB go down in a screaming heap while tied to Jehovah, they take him and the org with them. If the GB claim they’re uninspired and fallible and then go down, Jehovah remains standing and the org is saved.

After almost 2 years of being shunned by everyone I ever knew and loved I finally, though guiltily, looked at your posts out of sheer loneliness and depression.
I have been gradually deprogramming alone after over 40 years of being in the org. Smart but no higher ed. I wanted to be a nurse but obeyed the counsel and pioneered. Later a friend of mine who did go to nursing school and never pioneered was invited to Bethel,and they started inviting educated IT people to apply.That upset me a lot. Later I married an abusive brother but stuck it out for 29 years on the advice of the elders, discouraged my 4 kids from higher ed. I even shunned one of my own kids against my own concience as I was convinced if I disobeyed Jehovah I was endangering her chances ever of coming back, and if she died at the big A it would be my fault.
Then the elders went to a school a few years ago and came back with a different opinion about my marital situation. Now they actually apologised and reproved my husband, and were telling me the opposite counsel, that I was being spiritually endangered and should get out. Nice gesture, but a bit late. My kids were all damaged by then. Three are pioneers now and life went on after the divorce. I even took in 2 spiritual orphan teens and supported them for 4 years as a mother. I was the one to call at anytime day or night if someone needed help. I worked hard for RBC although there had to be a brother in charge as overseer who, although a sweet old guy, had absolutely no clue how to do the job . When Hurricane Katrina hit I volunteered to go but was told basically they prefer not to use single sisters because -I cant remember exactly the words but the inference was they are distracted looking for a man. (By then i was about 50 years old- not a teenager and was definitely NOT looking for a man)
Anyway I took all these slights and tried to keep going.
Then I was contacted by a man from my past , a non JW that I hadnt seen for years and started a friendship again that turned into a long distance romance. Soon my daughter found out and told everyone so I had to choose, really before I was ready . So rather than be a hypocrite i left the religion. IN one day I lost almost everyone in my life including 3 beloved grown children and the two other young women I had taken in and supported (They were advised to move out). I have no relatives here in this country as I am from the UK so apart from people at work I have been totally cut off from human contact for nearly 2 years now. I can really see why people commit suicide.
anyway sorry for the long story. I just want to thank you for your videos etc. Its nice to know there are others out there who understand and that apostates are not the boogy men that JW.org paints them as, and that the things that have irked me through the years are legitimate

@marieb, I am so glad you finally saw the “truth” for what it is (lies). Most of us here understand fully what you are going through and most of here reading these posts also have been abandoned by most of our so-called families and so-called friends.

I have been “awake” now for about 2-1/2 years and I can say honestly that even though I have lost all my so-called “friends” at the hall, I feel happier now than I did the whole time I was in the “truth” (50 years) than I ever did while I was an active Witness.

It’s a bit of an understatement to refer to the Warwick HQ, because Watchtower has invaded the New York Orange County area with purchases of the former King’s College buildings, hotels, houses, office buildings, etc. Literally, they’ve bought the farm.

Watchtower-logo sewer covers. You can’t make that up. LOL
PS Love the one jw’s tweet that ‘only in jehovah’s organization would such details be thought of’. How sadly mindless. Reminds me of the quick-build halls and how everyone would say, “These projects can only be possible with jehovah’s spirit.” LMAO ….. So… how the @?*# did NASA land a man on the moon without “jehovah’s spirit”, not to even touch on EVERYTHING ELSE “worldly” folks have achieved??? As I said, sadly mindless.

I am going to do a small and polite call out. As a Department Chair of a drafting program, I have significant experience in the design and construction process. Some building materials such as signage and stainless steel drain covers are not manufactured. Most of these fixtures are custom made per building. A small flare or extra may be inexpensive or included in the cost of the fixture.

Yes how lavishly the wt dons its own apparel while ignoring the needs f those around them. When we were witnesses we wre poor and couldn’t afford a trip to bethel. The not having an education part really sucked because means working for minimum wage and yet the wt expects us all to cough up money even if it means going without. I remember an article in the wt highliting hoe those in Africa plant crops just to sell and give money to wt. At doesn’t need the money of the poor while it lives on shameful luxury.

I have a question… From what I can gather, MOST of the issues had here are with the GB and the rest of the org, and not so much with the doctrine? I’m currently studying and have raised many of these questions myself. I would have to say I’m 50/50 as to what to believe and what not to believe, but as an intelligent, worldly person, I have the apprehensiveness and guardedness that comes with the territory. My main issue is, I refuse to make a decision based on anything but pure FACT. Thank you in advance for input.

@qu4ck,
The doctrine is heavily influenced by the GB and can change on any whim they have. Yesterday a certain scripture meant something very specific; today it means the complete opposite. The doctrines are based much on 19th century second Adventist dogma with a number of twists along the way. The basics: love God, love your neighbors, do unto others as you would have done to you are there, but can also be found in most all forms of Christianity. However, the way these concepts are applied in action are very different and often twisted.

When investigating a particular group and determining whether you want to get involved with them, there are 3 sources to consider in order to make a decision based on fact: what the members say about themselves (you are getting that by studying with them), what outside parties say about the group (check out some of the anti cult organizations like Steve Hassan’s Freedom of Mind as well as sociological and psychological sources), and what former members say. For info from former members I’d say the Ray Franz (former GB member) books Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom are good ones. Also if you are interested in doctrinal facts, check out Paul Grundy’s website jwfacts.com.

And do your research. Check everything. Verify facts. Ask questions – the more awkward the better! If you do choose to join the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s your decision; but make sure it’s YOU making the decision! If you buy a car, it’s in your interests to research before buying. Find out who liked it and who hated it, and for what reasons. The same goes for Jehovah’s Witnesses. If you buy, make sure it’s on YOUR terms!

My advice to you is the same as Winston’s but if you want to really find out if you want to belong to the Witness religion, when you have your study, ask your study conductor or conductors if they’d be willing to go to jwfacts and if so, have them explain all the issues brought up on that site. The “facts” are all backed up by Watchtower literature and so how could that be offensive to your study conductor?

If the one that is studying with you is unwilling to look at jwfacts, ask them why? Are they afraid?

The truth will stand up to lies. If the Watchtower Society is the “truth”, it shouldn’t be afraid of any lies.

If they don’t want to look at jwfacts, then that shows they are afraid they don’t have the “truth” because if they had the “truth”, it would stand up to lies.

If they refuse to look at jwfacts, then I’d press them on the illustration of when you are going to buy something that costs a lot of money, you would want to look at the pros and cons of the product. You don’t just go with the pros.

You would be foolish to look at the pros and cons of those who never even owned the product. The same thing goes with joining a religion. That is why you need to look at the cons of those those who dropped out of the religion and why.

Witnesses are only allowed to listen to the pros of the religion. If a Witness looks at any literature or anything that is critical of the Watchtower religion, they are not even allowed to say anything about it to even their family or any close friend in the religion or they will be turned into the elders and called before a committee meeting to see if they should be disfellowshiped for apostasy and quite likely, the elders will give a marking talk about that person to the congregation so that others in the congregation will be afraid to even associate with that person.

Witnesses can’t even tell their own family members about anything that find out is critical of the religion because Witnesses are told that anything critical of the religion is Satan trying to turn them away from Jehovah and so then they will die at Armageddon and their family member or friend will also die at Armageddon and so they are convinced that that loved one will die at Armageddon if they listen to anything critical of Jehovah’s Organization and if they really “loved” that person, they won’t listen to anything critical of the Organization and will turn that person in to the elders for the purpose of “saving” that loved one or friend.

If you ask your study conductor to look at jwfacts, that will tell you loads about the Organization and it will tell you loads about the control the Watchtower Organization has over it’s rank and file and so it is critical to you to see if the one studying with you is willing to look at it.

The rank and file are all in the dark as far any of the cons of the religion. They don’t believe that the Watchtower organization would ever lie to them and they are deathly afraid that if they go against Jehovah’s organization that they are going directly against God but ask your study conductor if they have any kind of proof that Jehovah is actually directly directing the Watchtower religion, other than the fact that the Watchtower is printing religious literature and preaching from door to door. Any religion can print religious literature and any religion can preach from door to door. That doesn’t mean it’s being directed from God.

Ask them when God picked them to be his one and only spokesman to man on earth and how did He do it.

Ask them if God is directing the Organization and ask them how he is doing it. Just because the Governing Body asks for God’s direction, does that mean that God is directing the Organization? What kind of proof do they have.

Ask them if the Governing Body claims to be inspired.

They will say that the Governing Body never claimed to be inspired, so then ask them what is the difference between being directed by God because they go to God in prayer and being inspired by God?

How can the Watchtower say that Jehovah is directing the Organization and not claim that it is inspired by Jehovah because any book that you study with the Witnesses, will always say that what is being printed from the Watchtower religion is coming from Jehovah.

The first thing that the elders ask anybody who has stopped going to meetings is “do you believe that Jehovah is directing the Organization” and if you say no, you will be considered an apostate, so then ask them to explain how Jehovah is directing the Organization since they don’t claim to be “inspired” but “God directed”.

How can the Organization claim to be directed by Jehovah? How could the Organization be directed by Jehovah since the Insight book #2 on page 1132 says that God’s holy spirit could never be the source of error but would protect Christ’s followers from doctrinal falsehood but the February 2017 Watchtower admits that the Governing Body admit they come up with doctrinal errors since they are imperfect and not inspired.

If they are actually directed by God’s Holy Spirit, according to their own literature, they would not be publishing doctrinal errors.

Hi please at least consider JWUpdate this guy who writes this blog is I believe annointed he slams the faithful and discreet slave as being annointed by Satan “man of lawlessness” and the governing body as fake ngo un status as being the abomination of desolation standing now in the Holy Place and JWs should leave asap they are being led like lambs to the slaughter. He is hard to understand but not to those who want the Real truth they will understand him thankyou.